Renovation Update #3 – Planning, preparation and purchasing

Here’s another update on the Traralgon renovation project. For those just tuning in, the basics of the project are:

Location: Traralgon, Victoria

Details: 2 bedroom, 1 bathroom

Purchase Price: $165,000

Renovation Budget: $15,000

Plan: To do a cosmetic renovation on the inside and outside of the house then rent the property out. In addition to this we will have plans drawn up and a planning permit submitted for a three bedroom house on the back of the block then subdivide and hold that property also. So it’s a buy, renovate, hold, develop, hold!

It’s just 1 week today until we get the keys and take possession of our Traralgon house. We’re really looking forward to it now as we’ve done lots of planning, preparation and purchasing (the three P’s!). We’re itching now to get in and really get things going.

Renovation Calculator and Renovation Planning Tool

I’ve spent quite a bit of time tweaking and fixing up my renovation calculator and renovation planning tool so that I can estimate our expenditure, plan our tasks and well and truly track our costs throughout the project.

Reviewing Quotes and Scheduling Work

We’ve received most of the quotes that we were waiting on – thanks to me sending a follow up sms to all of the tradespeople (worked a treat!). We’ve selected our team for the most part and have scheduled in key tasks to start from the day of settlement. The immediate plan is:

Settlement day (Day 0) – pull down fences to be replaced, bring kitchen doors back to our own house where we will be priming and repainting with laminate paint

Day 1 – Green waste to be removed from backyard (we’ve already cut back all of the trees and bushes and the waste is on the ground), tree stumps to be removed

Day 2 – Remove all walls requiring re-plastering, prepare all walls for patching

Day 3 – Plasterers come in to re-plaster and patch all wall and roof, fencing guy commences building the fences, remove lamipanel from bathroom walls in preparation for builder

Day 4 – Builder to commence re-building walls in bathroom with villaboard

Purchasing

We’ve got our master materials list together and have started to purchase materials. I’m really getting into this part of it, I love the thrill of chasing down a bargain and cutting hundreds off our budget.

We’ve purchased all of our paints and painting related items so that once the plasterer has done his thing we can get stuck into the painting. This week, we also visited a big auction house that has all sorts of renovation and building materials including kitchens, bathroom items, appliances, timber, carpets, laminate flooring. It was renovators heaven! I loved it and we purchased a bunch of stuff including an air conditioning unit, lights and carpet. Just as an indication, we had received a couple of quotes for a budget level carpet and underlay and they had come in at (i) $1140 (including installation) and (ii) $1600 (excluding installation). We purchased our carpet at auction, a top quality carpet, for only $395 (excluding installation) – what a saving!

Hi, thanks for your comment! The auction house where I found lots of great bargains was Fowles Auctions. It’s in Dandenong, Victoria.
I’m sure each state around Australia has an equivalent – and I’d love to hear from others where they are!!